Rolls-Royce 100EX photos gallery.
Good morning ladies and gentlemen.
It was almost exactly 100 years ago, on 4 May 1904 that two gentlemen met in the Midland Hotel in Manchester to talk about motor cars. Charles Rolls was an aristocrat with a passion for cars and an entrepreneurial spirit. He had heard that an exceptionally talented engineer, Henry Royce, was producing motor cars which far exceeded the quality, refinement and reliability of all other marques available at the time - and he wanted to see this Royce car for himself. So impressed was Rolls, both with the motor car and with Henry Royce himself, that he immediately agreed that the two should join forces - and so one of the greatest names in automotive history was born.
And the history of Rolls-Royce is a truly glorious one, encompassing world speed records on land, on water and in the air, patronage by royal families, and heads of state, actors, sports figures, artists, and captains of industry. People, who genuinely made their mark on the world, chose Rolls-Royce as their motorcar. And what was at the heart of the company's success? It was quite simply an obsession with seeking-out engineering excellence in all its forms, whether it be in electrical systems, engines, suspension systems, chassis design, body materials. However large or small the component, Royce wanted to improve it or redesign it - quite simply to make it better. As he famously said: "Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. If it doesn't exist, design it."
The ideas that Royce and his team came up with were tested in a variety of ways and in 1919 the first of a series of experimental cars was built and named 1EX, standing for experimental of course. The EX models were a feature of Rolls-Royce development for almost 40 years - ending with 45EX in the late 50s. Some EX models evolved into series cars - like the Phantom III for instance (the first V12 Rolls-Royce) which was spawned from the 30, 31 and 32EX cars, many others did not, although some of the features which were tested did appear in production form.
Since the mantle of responsibility for the future of this wonderful marque fell to us, we have tried to live up to the engineering ideals of Royce and I think we can say with some confidence that the extremely positive reaction we have had to the Phantom from customers and indeed from you, shows that we have been successful.
We have an extremely talented design and engineering team and we decided that the focus of our centenary celebrations should have a strong engineering flavour. So, with the support of the BMW Group, we turned our designers and engineers loose on a Rolls-Royce experimental car for the 21st century - a special one-off for a special celebration - which we have called 100EX.
The styling was painstakingly developed in California in the BMW Designworks facility, by the Rolls-Royce design team, under the guidance of our chief designer Ian Cameron. As with the Phantom, the historical shapes and forms of Rolls-Royce motor cars of the past were considered and the influence is there to be seen, but I hope you will agree that there is an edge to this design, which makes it utterly contemporary.
And in the true spirit of Rolls-Royce experimental cars, 100EX is complete with all its systems functional, even including the navigation, climate control and communication systems. The chassis is a light-weight aluminium space-frame, like the Phantom, but with a wheelbase which is 100mm shorter. Overall it is 165mm shorter and 71mm lower than the Phantom. It shares coach doors with the Phantom - hinged at the back for the best possible access - but there are only two of them. There is an interesting boot arrangement too, part of which folds out to create a picnic table and under the bonnet lies a nine litre, 64 valve, V16 engine. I like to think of this car as engineering art.
I promise I won't keep it from you for more than a few more seconds, but before I do show it to you, I know you will all be speculating that this is a new series model, waiting in the wings. Well it isn't. That's not to say that some elements of 100EX might appear on future models - which of course we are considering - but this car has been produced, foremost, to celebrate this wonderful moment in Rolls-Royce history - it's 100 year anniversary. Watch out for it later this year at Villa d'Este, The Goodwood Festival of Speed and Pebble Beach where the centenary will be celebrated in full measure.
But now, without further ado ladies and gentlemen, I give you 100EX.
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